Practical tips and suggestions I wish I heard when I was a supervisee.

In 2018, I graduated from my MSW program with passion and energy.

I was also nervous, anxious, and stressed from the previous two years and knew it would take me at least three and a half years to become a licensed clinician in Washington State.

Here are things I wish someone had told me before graduating.

Tip 1: Have Hours Signed Off Regularly

Supervisors can die suddenly without warning. While rare and unfortunate, it can still happen.

Supervisors can also move out of state, leave their agency, and/or be unreachable via phone or email.

Supervisors can also refuse to sign off on your hours for whatever reason (ethics, personal vendettas, etc.).

This can lead to you being in limbo and pursuing more time, effort, and money into supervision toward independent licensure.

When we work together, I will regularly sign off on your hours monthly.

Tip 2: Make Sure Your Supervisor is Approved

Approved Supervisors by the Washington State’s Department of Health are qualified to provide you supervision toward independent licensure. This means they must have two years post licensure and completed adequate training.

Otherwise, no hours will qualify and count toward your LICSW/LMHC/LMFT.

I’ve had colleagues unknowingly engage in supervision with unqualified supervisors who were not Approved Supervisors which caused them to spend more money and delay their licensure process.

Tip 3: Find a Good Fit

Good supervision is like good therapy. It depends largely on the alliance and relationship with you have with your supervisor.

Certain supervisors are really good in one area while other may be good in other areas.

Consider what is most important for you when working with a supervisor.

This can include: Age, length of professional experience, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, shared experiences, lived experiences, skill, experience, theoretical orientation, personality, temperament, cultural values, etc.

Tip 4: Try Other Styles Outside of Your Preferred Model/Framework

While finding a therapist who shares your theoretical orientation can be helpful in deepening your knowledge, theory, and clinical application of skills, it can also be helpful to have someone provide you an outside perspective.

I would encourage supervisees to find therapists who have a different theoretical orientation than them to be exposed to a variety of types of orientations/frameworks for change.

Personally, I’ve been exposed to experiential and somatic therapies such as Gestalt, Mindfulness, Relational, Feminist, Systems Theory, IFS, AEDP, EFT, and SE as a result of my diverse supervision experience. Some I pursued additional training in, while others were not my vibe/style, but I kept foundational learnings from.

Tip 5: Keep A CEU & Licensure Log

Create an Excel sheet where you track required CEUs for the year, when your license will expire and needs to be renewed, and documentation of your hours.

For documentation of your hours, separate clinical versus non-clinical (admin, consultation, education, studying for ASWB/NCC/MFT exam, case management).

I also encourage you to document your hours week by week, add them up every month, and have your supervisor sign off on these hours monthly or every 2-3 months.

While this takes more work and effort, in the rare case you are audited by the Department of Health, you will have all the necessary paperwork and signature verifying your hours are valid in case anything happens.

Tip 6: Find Support

The road to independent licensure is stressful and overwhelming at times.

Find a peer support group of some sort where you can vent, share resources, emotionally support one another, and feel less alone on this journey.

We can’t do this work alone!

Tip 7: Prep For The ASWB/NCC/MFT Exam

Check in with your supervisor from time to time to discuss the ASWB/NCC/MFT exam.

Read the Social Work Code of Ethics from time to time.

Watch free YouTube videos on preparation for the ASWB/NCC/MFT exam where you get a sense of how the exam might be structured.

Read the ASWB KSA (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities) as this is what is tested and measured on the exam. Here is the 2023 version.

For social workers, consider enrolling in an ASWB preparation course through the WSSCSW or NASW WA.

Tip 8: Go To Therapy

This is especially true if you work with trauma, higher level of care, marginalized populations, and/or more intense/severe psychopathology as compassion fatigue and secondary trauma is common.

Therapy can be a helpful place to process your “stuff” so it doesn’t weigh you down, burden you, and ultimately leave you feeling heavy and burn out.